Innerspring mattress or cushion



July 12, 1966 T. R. lNMAN INNERSPRING MATTRESS OR CUSHION Filed June 30, 1965 INVENTOR. THO/14A 5 INMA /V A TTOR/VE) .reduces their life.

United States Patent 3,259,924 INNERSPRING MA'I'IRESS 0R CUSI-HON Thomas R. Inman, Stuart, Va., assignor to United Elastic Corporation, Easthampton, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed June 30, 1965, Ser. No. 468,444 4 Claims. (Cl. 5-354) This invention relates to an improved innerspring mattress or cushion.

Mattresses and cushions of the innerspring type have achieved widespread use because of their excellent characteristics of softness, lack of permanent deformation in use, and the like. In general, it is attempted to lock the innerspring coils at both top and bottom in order to minimize sideways movement, produce firm edges, and the like. Firm attachment is made to a bottom frame, which may be of metal, for example metal strips, and the top of each coil is locked to its adjacent one by cross strips, wire fastenings and the like. It has also been proposed to provide a cover of perforated, heavy rubber or other elastic material with grooves into which the top, and in some constructions the bottom also, are firmly fastened into the heavy elastic, so that sideways movement under weight of persons lying on the mattress or sitting on a cushion is minimized. It is true that a certain amount of stretch is possible between attachments of separate coils, but the distance is so short that the stretch is minimal.

In the case of cushions it is frequent to have the bottom springs attached to inelastic webbing or similar textile materials, and in the case of mattresses the mattress cover is ordinarily also of textile fabrics which do not exhibit any significant stretch. Firmness and strength are obtained in the constructions which have been used in the past, but only at the expense of a serious drawback, particularly in mattresses. When a heavy person lies on an innerspring mattress, the coil spring underneath the points at which the persons body encounters the mattress cover are compressed, which of course is intended; but the relatively rigid connections of the tops of the wire coils, either by metallic connections or by relatively inelastic covers, result in pulling the coils adjacent to where the person lies sideways, thus producing a valley, which is particularly undesirable in mattress for double beds. Another disadvantage is that inextensible covers tend to be subjected to very extensive sideways strains, which In the case of cushions, where webbing is used at the bottom, this is one of the first places where a cushion breaks down in use.

The present invention obviates the drawbacks of earlier constructions, some of which have been set out above, by providing the sideways locking of the individual coils at one or more points near their centers and, if desired, particularly in the case of cushions, the bottom of each coil is locked against sideways movement. The tops of the coils, however, are not locked sideways and the cover is an elastic fabric which can stretch. It should be noted that the fabric need not be capable of a great percentage elongation because the total stretch is over the whole length or width of a fabric and even if it stretches only a moderate percentage, for example 20% to 30%, there is substantially no sideways pull on the top of each of the coil springs. So when a weight is applied, only the springs underneath the weight are compressed. The adjacent springs are not pulled sideweys; there is formed no valley, and since there is no rigid or semi-rigid locking of the tops of the springs coils, they can be made much softer, which is desirable in many cases. Of course where firm springs are desired, the wire in the coils may be of sufficiently heavy gauge to produce this effect, but it is not arbitrarily increased by sideways locking, either by metal ice connections or by relatively inextensible textiles. Much more comfortable mattresses and cushions are thus produced with no tendencies to form valleys and with a definite and accurately predetermined resilience which is not arbitrarily decreased by sidewayslocking.

Reference has been made to the use of the present invention in mattresses and cushions. This is probably the most important single field, but it should be understood that the same construction may be used for bed springs, though the formation of valleys by sideways movement of adjacent coils is somewhat less serious in the case of a bed spring because of the fact that ordinarily there is a relatively thick and soft mattress above it. Although the improved results of the present invention are not so marked or so dramatic as in the case of mattresses and cushions, they are nevertheless present, and the present invention is therefore not limited to mattresses and cushions but includes other structures such as bed springs, sofa springs, and the like. Throughout this specification and claims the term coil spring cushion structure will be used to cover mattresses, cushions proper, bed springs, and any other structures in which coils of spring are used to produce the desired resilience.

The invention will be illustrated in conjunction with the drawings, in which FIG. 1 illustrates a mattress or cushion of conventional design in cross section, and

FIG. 2 is a similar section through a cushion structure of the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a common modification in which springs are attached to metal bottom strips 1, coils are shown at 2 and 4, with sideways metallic connections at 3. A cover of inextensible textile material is shown at 6 in FIG. 1, and a similar cover of elastic material at 7 in FIG. 2. Loads 5 are shown in both figures, which may be a person lying on a mattress or seated on a cushion. It will be noted that in each case the coils 4 directly under the load are compressed in the usual manner with coil spring cushion structures, and the inextensible cover 6 pulls adjacent coils 2 sideways toward the load, thus producing a valley.

In FIG. 2 it will be seen that while the coils 4 underneath the load are compressed as before, the elastic cover 7 stretches and there is no sideways pull, so that the adjacent coils 2 are not depressed and no valley is formed. In order to illustrate the different behavior of the present invention, the tops of the coils are shown without separate sideways locking structure in FIG. 1, although it is customary in coil spring cushion structures in the past to provide locking at the top either with metallic fastenings or by rigid attachment into the cover. The present invention involves a combination of an elastic cover and coils which have no sideways locking at their top.

For most mattress covers it is desirable to have the elastic covering of the so-called two-way stretch type so that it can be stretched in either of two directions. This is the preferred modification of the present invention, especially for mattresses; but for certain purposes, as in the case of certain cushions, it may be desirable to provide stretch in only one direction, and such modifications are included within the invention.

The particular nature of the elastic material for the cover forms no part of the present invention so long as it has suflicient stretch in the desired directions. Fabrics having covered elastic warp and/ or weft threads may be used or textile fabrics which are capable of stretching may be used in which the individual threads may not stretch or may stretch considerably less than is the case with the normal elastic thread.

I claim:

1. A coil spring cushion structure comprising a plurality of spring coils, means spaced from at least one end 3 thereof for sideways locking of the coils to prevent iturning or cocking in use, and a covering fabric for at least one side of elastic material capable of stretching in at least one direction, the fabric being unattached to the spring coils and capable of sliding across the ends thereof, whereby under load only the coils under the load are compressed and adjacent coils are not pulled sideways in the stretch direction.

2. A coil spring cushion structure according to claim 1 in which the elastic covering fabric is stretchable in two directions. 7

3. A coil spring cushion structure according to claim 1 in which one end of each coil is attached to a structure 4. A coil spring cushion structure according to claim 2 in which one end of each coil is attached to a structure which is inextensible sideways and the other ends of the coils are free.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,153,644 9/1915 Rilling 5353 3,099,844 8/1963 Bolesky 5354 7 FOREIGN PATENTS 497,441 9/ 1954 Italy. 554,645 1/ 1957 Italy.

which is inextensible sideways and the other ends of the 15 FRANK B4 SHERRY, Primary Examinercoils are free.

CASMIR A. NUMBERG, Examiner, 

1. A COIL SPRING CUSHION STRUCTURE COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SPRING COILS, MEANS SPACED FROM AT LEAST ONE END THEREOF FOR SIDEWAYS LOCKING OF THE COILS TO PREVENT TURNING OR COCKING IN USE, AND A COVERING FABRIC FOR AT LEAST ONE SIDE OF ELASTIC MATERIAL CAPABLE OF STRETCHING IN AT LEAST ONE DIRECTION, THE FABRIC BEING UNATTACHED TO THE SPRING COILS AND CAPABLE OF SLIDING ACROSS THE ENDS THEREOF, WHEREBY UNDER LOAD ONLY THE COILS UNDER THE LOAD ARE COMPRESSED AND ADJACENT COILS ARE NOT PULLED SIDEWAYS IN THE STRETCH DIRECTION. 